In U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,594, a swimming pool construction is described of the type having cast concrete walls, together with a gutter cast into the top of the walls and surrounding the upper periphery of the swimming pool. This gutter is necessary to skim off surface water which contains most of the contaminants in the pool such as bacteria, oil and debris. Slotted, removable cover sections are fitted over the gutter, which sections are formed from plastic or concrete material and are preferably not necessarily provided with integral seating lugs which fit into the cavity and hold the sections in place. A water supply conduit can be disposed within the gutter beneath the cover sections but above a drain at the bottom of the gutter whereby debris or other material in the drain will not collect around the water supply conduit. The water supply conduit, in turn, is removably connected by quick-disconnect couplings to water nozzle assemblies which feed water into the pool. Normally, a vertical wall is provided above the slotted cover sections behind the gutter to provide a break-water. This vertical wall terminates at a concrete or the like deck surrounding the swimming pool.
While the system shown in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,594 constitutes an advance in the art and is entirely satisfactory, a cast concrete gutter and wall structure behind the gutter requires considerable concrete formwork and is relatively expensive. Systems such as that shown in Whitten, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,432,867 have been provided wherein the gutter is formed in sections having an integral vertical wall which acts as a break-water. The difficulty with the gutter system shown in the aforesaid Whitten, Jr. patent, however, is that the gutter is formed from stainless steel, an extremely expensive material; and its installation is also extremely expensive by virtue of the fact that it requires welding of the roll-formed stainless steel sections end-to-end in situ by scarce, highly-trained welders. Furthermore, it is subject to corrosion by the chloride ion present in swimming pools, is expensive to ship because of its weight and can be hazardous if it is not properly grounded.